The patent document EP-B1-0 975 211 relates to a teat location technique for automatic milking procedures. The basis for this technique is to “virtually paint” different objects with the aid of e.g. laser beams, so that the objects are illuminated at one or several moments, giving several e.g. horizontal laser-lines on the objects. With this technique it is easy to identify the outlines of different objects. These identified outlines of an object and reference criteria defining e.g. a teat, a post of a milking stall, a straw, a leg, or a tail are used to determine if the illuminated object is a teat. Then the position of an established teat is determined.
The patent document WO-00/62602 relates to a method and apparatus for recognizing and determining a position of at least one teat of a milking animal. The method includes the steps: moving a scanning head including a light source to a region containing the teat or teats, capturing at least one image formed by said light, evaluating the image or images so as to determine if each image describes said teat or teats. The scanning head is moved to a fixed initial position in the room which is under the animal. Thereafter the scanning head is moved in determined steps (A-J) under the animal: upwards towards the animal, downwards, backwards towards the udder, upwards, downwards etc., while carrying out the scanning procedure.
The method and apparatus according to WO-00/62602 is not optimized regarding the time elapsed in performing the scanning procedure.